Laws, Regulations & Annotations

Property Taxes Law Guide – Revision 2017

Revenue and Taxation Code

Property Taxation

Part 2. Assessment

Chapter 3. Assessment Generally

Article 2.5. Change in Ownership Reporting*

Section 480.3

480.3. Change of ownership forms and fees. (a) Each county assessor and recorder shall make available, without charge and upon request, a form entitled "Preliminary Change of Ownership Report," which transferees of real property shall complete and may file with the recorder concurrent with the recordation of any document effecting a change in ownership. The form shall be signed by the transferee or an officer of the transferee certifying that the information provided on the form is, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, true, correct, and complete. The form shall not be signed by an agent acting for a transferee.

(b) If a document evidencing a change in ownership is presented to the recorder for recordation without the concurrent filing of a preliminary change in ownership report, the recorder may charge an additional recording fee of twenty dollars ($20).

(c) Noncompliance with this section by the transferee shall not delay or preclude the recordation of documents if the additional fee specified in subdivision (b) is tendered.

(d) The authority to obtain information pursuant to this section is in addition to, and not in lieu of, any existing authority the assessor has under this article.

(e) In cases where the county tax collector files purchaser's deeds with respect to a sale for defaulted taxes, the information given to the assessor pursuant to Sections 3716 and 3811 shall be deemed to constitute compliance with this section.

(f) The filing of a preliminary change of ownership report or the payment of an additional recording fee shall not be required of any intermediate transferee of property, or of any trustee issuing a trustee's deed to the mortgagee or beneficiary of a mortgage or deed of trust, or his or her assignees, pursuant to the exercise of a power of sale contained in a deed of trust or mortgage pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2920) of Title 14 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code. For purposes of this subdivision, "intermediate transferee" means any transferee who is acting as both a transferee and the transferor of the same property as part of a series of simultaneous transfers which affect that property and who records the transfer documents and any other recorded documents related to the transfer in consecutive order at one time.

(g) Except as prescribed in subdivisions (e) and (f), this section shall apply to changes of ownership occurring on or after July 1, 1985.

History.—Added and repealed by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1237, in effect January 1, 1985. Stats. 1986, Ch. 1420, effective January 1, 1987, deleted former subdivision (e), added subdivisions (e), (f), and (g), and relettered former subdivision (f) as subdivision (h). Stats. 1990, Ch. 1546, in effect January 1, 1991, substituted "shall" for "may" after "property" and added "may" after "complete and" in the first sentence, and added the second sentence to subdivision (a); deleted the former second sentence in subdivision (b), which provided, "The additional fee shall not be charged if the document is accompanied by an affidavit that the transferee is not a resident of California."; and deleted former subdivision (h) which provided, "This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 1991, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, which is enacted before January 1, 1991, deletes or extends that date." Stats. 1991, Ch. 199, in effect January 1, 1992, substituted "in" for "of" after "change" in the first sentences of subdivisions (a) and (b); and added ", or any trustee . . . of the Civil Code" after "property" in the first sentence of subdivision (f). Stats. 2009, Ch. 67 (SB 824), in effect January 1, 2010, substituted "certifying that the information provided on the form is, to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, true, correct, and complete." for "and" after the second "the transferee" in the second sentence and created the third sentence by adding "The form" to the balance of the former second sentence before "shall not be" in subdivision (a).